East Asia: Detail of the 'Selden Map' showing southern China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Siam and parts of the Eastern Archipelago. The Spratlys and the Paracels in the South China Sea are indicated. China, late Ming Dynasty, c. 1624

Originally the property of John Selden, the London lawyer and historical and linguistic scholar, the 'Selden Map' was lodged with the Bodleian Library in 1659.

Dating from the late Ming period, it shows China, Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Southeast Asia and southern India. Shipping routes with compass bearings from the port of Quanzhou are given for the entire region. A panel of Chinese text on the left of the map near Calicut in the west gives directions of the routes to Aden, Oman, and the Straits of Hormuz.

This is the earliest Chinese map to show shipping routes,and also to depict China as part of a greater East and the Indian Ocean, rather than as the centre of the world.

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Supplier: CPA Media Co. Ltd.

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